118 Part 2Striving for Performance
self-efficacy An individual’s belief
that he or she is capable of perform-
ing a task.
From Concepts to Skillson pages 148–149 gives further ideas of how to effectively
engage in goal setting.
Goal-setting theory is consistent with expectancy theory. The goals can be consid-
ered the effort-performance link—in other words, the goals determine what must be
done. Feedback can be considered the performance-rewards relationship, where the
individual’s efforts are recognized. Finally, the implication of goal setting is that the
achievement of the goals will result in intrinsic satisfaction (and may of course be linked
to external rewards).Contingency Factors in Goal Setting
Are there any contingencies in goal-setting theory, or can we take it as a universal truth
that difficult and specific goals will always lead to higher performance? Feedback is one
of the most important factors that influences the relationship between goals and per-
formance. Recent research suggests that when individuals receive negative feedback,
they lower their goals, and when they receive positive feedback, they raise their goals.^35
Self-efficacy may explain how feedback affects goal behaviour. Self-efficacyrefers
to an individual’s belief that he or she is capable of performing a task.^36 The higher
your self-efficacy, the more confidence you have in your ability to succeed in a task. So,
in difficult situations, we find that people with low self-efficacy are more likely to lessen
their effort or give up altogether, while those with high self-efficacy will try harder to mas-
ter the challenge.^37 In addition, individuals high in self-efficacy seem to respond to
negative feedback with increased effort and motivation, whereas those low in self-effi-
cacy are likely to lessen their effort when given negative feedback.^38
In addition to feedback, four other factors have been found to influence the goals-per-
formance relationship. These are goal commitment, adequate self-efficacy, task char-
acteristics, and national culture. Goal-setting theory presupposes that an individual is
committed to the goal; that is, he or she is determined not to lower or abandon the
goal. This is most likely to occur when goals are made public, when the individual has
an internal locus of control, and when the goals are self-set rather than assigned.^39
Research indicates that individual goal setting does not work equally well on all
tasks. The evidence suggests that goals seem to have a greater effect on performance
when tasks are simple rather than complex, well-learned rather than new, and inde-
pendent rather than interdependent.^40 On interdependent tasks, group goals are prefer-
able. Finally, goal-setting theory is culture bound. It’s well adapted to countries like
Canada and the United States because its key components align reasonably well with
North American cultures. Following the GLOBE measures from Chapter 3, it assumes that
employees will be reasonably independent (not too high a score on power distance), that
managers and employees will seek challenging goals (low in uncertainty avoidance),
and that performance is considered important by both (high in performance orientation).
So don’t expect goal setting to necessarily lead to higher employee performance in
countries such as Portugal or Chile, where the opposite conditions exist.
Our overall conclusion is that intentions—as articulated in terms of hard and specific
goals—are a potent motivating force. Under the proper conditions, they can lead to
higher performance.RESPONSES TO THEREWARDSYSTEM
As one of four quarterbacks for the BC Lions football team, Casey Printers was not a happy player
when the football season started in summer 2005.^41 He was the CFL’s most outstanding player
in the 2004 season, after stepping in when starting quarterback Dave Dickenson was injured.
Subsequently, Printers led the BC Lions to an eight-game winning streak, and he thought that
should have entitled him to a better contract for 2005.